


I'm Not Going Anywhere

by bipsycho_earper



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas Prompt, F/F, Tumblr Prompt, the BAU team (mentioned kinda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:06:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28424439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bipsycho_earper/pseuds/bipsycho_earper
Summary: "Christmas is three days away, Morgan." JJ's voice was soft, fragile almost. "What am I gonna do without her? What am I going to tell Henry? He's old enough to know that if she doesn't come home—""Hey, hey. Don't think like that," Derek attempted to comfort her. "She's going to take care of this unsub and then you and Emily and Henry are all going to have an amazing Christmas together. All three of you."
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 10
Kudos: 82





	I'm Not Going Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm back again! Apologies for the late Christmas fic! 
> 
> This one was from a Christmas prompt list (I can't find the original anywhere, apologies), suggested by @painttheworldrainbow on tumblr: "Omg can you do number 41 for the Christmas prompts ? Emily was reckless in the field so she’s on the naughty list :( "
> 
> I don't own the characters or show, yada yada yada. All mistakes are my own! Feedback is always welcome!
> 
> I love you all and hope you enjoy!!!

**I'm Not Going Anywhere**

"In the house. No guns. No vest."

The smooth, slightly unsettled voice of Jeremy Oplin crackled over the out-of-date phone. Faintly, the BAU could hear the quiet whimpers of the poor woman being held at gunpoint. Katrina Goldsmith was her name. 73 years old with a terrible smoking habit, living in Tacoma, Washington.

Oplin, Garcia discovered earlier, had lost his parents at a young age and been placed into the care of his grandmother. He had been admitted to the local hospital a number of times with burn marks made by extinguishing a cigarette on his youthful skin.

Upon further investigation, it appeared that Oplin's grandmother had just passed away earlier in the month after losing her battle with lung cancer, which directly coincided with the start of the murders. The team had concluded that this had been his trigger and, after three long days, finally caught up with him before he could add another kill to his count. 

"Now."

"Alright, I'm taking off my vest and gun like you said, Jeremy," Emily spoke calmly, tearing the velcro close enough to the receiver so that Oplin could hear exactly what she was doing. "I'm going to come to the front door and knock three times, then open it, alright?"

"Now, or she dies," Jeremy demanded, nearly yelling as the line went dead. Emily sighed, unholstering her gun and handing it to Derek as she made her way to the front door, but before she could get there, someone grasped her wrist.

"Emily, don't," JJ pleaded as Emily turned around. "Please, I can't lose you."

"Jen," Emily breathed, hugging her closely. "If I'm not in there in the next 30 seconds, another innocent woman is going to be slaughtered." The brunette paused, hugging the blonde close and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "I love you and Henry with all of my heart and I'll see you once this is all over, okay?"

JJ didn't look remotely convinced, but nodded slowly, pressing another kiss to Emily's lips and stepping back. Her eyes never left her girlfriend as the brunette walked up to the front door, her knuckles rapping it three times before slowly opening it, stepping inside, and closing the door behind her.

JJ could feel her leg begin to bounce as she sat down on the opposite curb. The police cars slightly obscured her view of the house, but the blonde never let her eyes leave the slightly-open window. She could feel her hand resting on her holstered gun, waiting, while she listened to the distant conversation coming from inside the house.

"She's gonna be alright," a calm voice spoke from beside her. Out of her peripheral, JJ could see Derek sit next to her, feeling his hand gently linger supportively on her shoulder for a moment. "Prentiss is one of the toughest agents I've ever met."

"Christmas is three days away, Morgan." JJ's voice was soft, fragile almost. "What am I going to do without her? What am I going to tell Henry? He's old enough to know that if she doesn't come home—"

"Hey, hey. Don't think like that," Derek attempted to comfort her. "She's going to take care of this unsub and then you and Emily and Henry are all going to have an amazing Christmas together. All three of you."

JJ let out a heavy sigh, nodding slowly afterward as if trying to convince herself that it was true.

______________________________________________________________________________

  
  


"Like you said: no vest, no gun," Emily's voice rang authoritatively throughout the living room as she watched Jeremy Oplin with his pistol trained on his hostage. "I'm just here to talk with you."

"There's not much to talk about, is there?" Jeremy replied coolly, staring down the agent and tightening his hold on his hostage. He flicked the pistol at her, a silent and threatening request for Emily to keep both hands visible, which was immediately granted as the agent raised her arms in surrender.

Emily took a brief second to assess the situation. The gun was cocked and Oplin's finger lingered lightly above the trigger. He could fire at any second. Knowing the profile, he wouldn't even hesitate.

Glancing at Katrina, Emily could see the pure fear in the woman's eyes. Her hair had fully greyed and her frame looked overly fragile, the arms attempting to pry herself free almost purely skin and bone with no muscle left whatsoever. She wasn't going to be of much use to Emily's rescue attempt.

"I know what your grandmother did to you," Emily began slowly. "I know that she neglected you when all you wanted to do was make her proud. I know that you had to be independent as a young boy. I was the same with my mother."

"I'm sure," Jeremy retorted, rolling his eyes. "What's next? Your mom told you that you would never amount to anything? You ran away, only to be dragged back to that hell? Big whoop. Happened to all of us."

"Yes, she did tell me that and I did run away at one point," Emily nodded calmly, taking a deep breath and testing the waters with a gradual step forward. Immediately, Jeremy's jaw clenched and he aimed his gun at Emily, glaring down the barrel.

"One more step and I'll shoot," he growled through gritted teeth.

Pausing momentarily to reassess the situation, Emily tilted her head, analyzing what she knew about Oplin. This was a person who grew up independent, became a leader, and was never questioned. He never had anyone stand up to him before, clearly. If he wasn't going to hesitate, as the profile said, why hadn't he shot yet? Especially since he could've killed Katrina and left the house before the BAU had gotten to the scene…

"Put the gun down, Jeremy," Emily spoke, slowly lowering her hands and taking another step forward. Despite Hotch's protests in her earpiece, she shut it off, taking it out of her ear.

"I _will_ shoot you," Jeremy shouted, frustration evident in his voice. "Do _not_ take another step!"

"Put the gun down," Emily repeated, not stopping her gradual advance. "This woman is not your grandmother. You know this, Jeremy. She's got a family that she loves and grandchildren who want to see their grandmother for Christmas."

Katrina nodded quickly in agreement. Well, at least as much as she could in Oplin's hold. Jeremy's eyes darted from Emily to the woman in his grasp and to the miscellaneous photographs framed around the living room.

In each one, there were smiling faces. Some with Katrina, some with just children, some with an older man (who, from Garcia's retrieved images, Emily recognized to be Katrina's late husband); every photograph possessed happiness and sentimental value to the woman, Emily could tell. 

With this momentary distraction and stall in Oplin's control of the situation, Emily had advanced close enough to reach out and angle the pistol away from herself and Katrina, gently holding the top of the barrel and pushing it down towards the ground. 

"Jeremy, let go of Mrs. Goldsmith and give me the gun." Emily stepped slightly closer, seeing Oplin's hard glare falter when his eyes met her own. There was still a glint of contempt lurking in his dark irises, but the hesitation had appeared to make him uncertain of his own motives. This uncertainty allowed Emily to pry the gun from Oplin's hand, tucking it securely in the holster on her left hip.

For a moment, the man glanced at the window, a pondering look on his face. Emily wondered what was going through his mind at that instant. He had to have known he was going to be caught. Maybe some part of him wanted to be caught?

A small yelp from Katrina shook Emily from her slight daze as she lunged forward to catch the falling woman released rather forcefully from Oplin's grip. Supporting the woman in her arms, Emily led her to the couch and sat her down, turning back towards Oplin, who had crouched down and tied his shoe.

"Jeremy Oplin, you are under arrest for the murders of 7 women." Emily stood behind the unsub, looking down to her hip to unclip her handcuffs from her belt.

She didn't even realize that the man had a knife in hand until she felt a sharp pain in her right abdomen and warm, red fluid soaking through her formerly white shirt. Falling to the ground with a loud cry, she clutched her side, watching helplessly as Katrina screamed and Jeremy Oplin fled the house through a side door. 

______________________________________________________________________________

"Emily," JJ breathed, jumping up at the scream and aiming her gun at the house, searching for any movement whatsoever.

A figure in a dark blue hoodie was sprinting through the exposed back yard to a wall of trees as the team began to rush the house. There was a gleam from an object in the figure's hand, which JJ immediately recognized to be a knife. 

When the unsub failed to stop when she yelled, she fired a single shot at his shoulder, rushing to the front door as Oplin fell to the ground. With a nod implying a short "Good shot," Morgan ran toward the fallen unsub, his gun never pointed away from its target.

Hotch and JJ entered the house first, the rest of the team and local police department following them. The two cleared the living room as everyone else flanked out. Hotch went to Katrina, who was frozen in shock on the couch while JJ scanned the room for Emily, heart stopping as she spotted her lover in a pool of blood on the floor.

Wasting no time, JJ tucked her gun away and knelt down at Emily's side, pressing her hands to the wound. 

  
"Emily, if you die, I swear I'm gonna kill you," JJ mumbled to herself as she put heavy pressure on the still bleeding wound.

A breathy laugh escaped the woman below her. "And how would you do that?"

Meeting the dark brown gaze of her lover, JJ shook her head. "I'd find a way."

"Aw, babe," Emily grinned, face pale from the loss of blood. "It's just a flesh wound! Besides, I thought you liked it when I was naughty."

"This is not the time for jokes…"

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because you're literally bleeding out on the floor!"

"I'm sorry?"

"You are so lucky that I love you, Emily Prentiss."

"I love you too, Jen."

______________________________________________________________________________

Two days later (and a lot of arguments between the brunette and the hospital nurses), Emily was clear to return home. The couple knew it was going to be an early night for Henry, especially since the kid had gotten a sugar rush off of some cookies they were _supposed_ to be leaving for Santa.

There were still three cookies left on the plate for the Holly Jolly Man (as JJ joked one year telling Henry a Christmas themed bedtime story), along with the traditional carrot for his reindeer. Henry had picked out the cookies, placing them and the carrot carefully on the plate himself now that he was old enough to do it unsupervised. 

Of course, he passed out on the couch five minutes later.

JJ picked the young boy up easily in her arms, carrying him upstairs to his room and tucking him into bed. She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead and mumbling a quiet "I love you," turned off the light and shut the door behind her. 

With a content smile, the blonde returned downstairs, opening the closet doors and dragging her son's presents out to the brightly lit tree in the living room. She could hear the water running upstairs as Emily changed her bandage, laughing to herself upon realizing how normal of an occurrence that was.

Taking a few bites of the carrot, she set the stem back on the plate and began to place Emily's presents under the tree along with Henry's. She pulled them out from all sorts of cabinets: the pots and pans that always stacked high enough to hide presents behind, the corner cabinet that had more depth than meets the eye, and the cabinet next to the fridge that no one used. 

JJ ate the cookies left for Santa as well, making sure to leave a few crumbs on the plate and marveling at how delicious they were; she definitely needed to commend Emily on what a good job she did with the snickerdoodles.

Speaking of the devil, JJ could hear the brunette coming downstairs and met her at the bottom with a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yours and Henry's presents are all set."

Emily grinned, putting her hair up in a messy bun. "Maybe you should go upstairs so I can put yours out?"

"No peeking!"

"I promise I won't look!"

JJ laughed, kissing her girlfriend. She tasted spearmint on Emily's lips—lingering toothpaste, no doubt—and remembered that she desperately needed to brush her own teeth, especially after the cookies.

"Your snickerdoodles were amazing, by the way. You should teach me the recipe."

Emily shook her head, smiling. "The bakers trusted me with that secret. I'm taking it to the grave."

JJ couldn't help but snort at the statement as she made her way upstairs to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Spitting out her toothpaste and wiping her mouth with a tissue, JJ felt two arms snake around her waist, hands tugging gently at the bottom of her soft pajama shirt. Emily pressed a lingering kiss behind JJ's ear, moving down her neck as her hands found their way under JJ's shirt and traced circles on the blonde's abs.

JJ spun around quickly, meeting Emily's mouth with her own and wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck. Her fingers deftly tugged the elastic out of Emily's bun, immediately dropping it among the other forgotten elastics and bobby pins as they tangled themselves in the older woman's silky hair.

The pair walked together to the bed, only breaking apart to shed clothes off of one another. Emily fell backwards as the back of her knees hit the edge of the mattress. She moved herself closer to the middle of the bed, then interlocked her fingers with her lover's, pulling JJ on top of her.

The blonde trailed kisses over the brunette's exposed collarbone, nipping the skin lightly as she went and eliciting satisfied sighs from the woman underneath her.

"God, you're so beautiful, Em," she mumbled into the soft skin, leaving one last kiss and tilting her head back up to meet Emily's gaze.

Emily's hands trailed lazily along JJ's lower back, settling on the blonde's hips as she looked at her lover with pleading eyes.

"Can I touch you?" she asked, hopeful.

JJ eyed the brunette, hand tracing the edge of the bandage covering the stitches before pulling Emily's hands off of her hips and setting them above the brunette's head. The blonde shook her head, a sparkle in her eyes betraying her inner thoughts, as she leaned back down to Emily's level. She bit Emily's earlobe gently, pressing a kiss to it and letting her lips linger by her ear.

"You said it yourself. You, Emily Prentiss, were a naughty girl. That means you get no gifts for Christmas, remember?" JJ's voice was low, no louder than a whisper and it immediately sent a rush of warmth between Emily's legs.

"Please?" A pout formed on Emily's face.

JJ smirked, a small laugh escaping as she sat up, tilting her head up and pretending to think, then looked back down at Emily's pout.

"Maybe, if you're a good girl for me, you'll get _a_ present tonight…"


End file.
